China
is infamous for blocking access to various types of content on the
internet. China also forces search engines like Google, Bing, and
Yahoo to censor their search results and has in the past forced the
search engines to hand over information on users.

One of the
most recent censorship issues in China was the censoring
of map services like Google Maps. China said the censorship
was due to security risks. Reuters reports that
China has vowed it will
not relax government control of the internet and will not
bow down to foreign criticism of its rules and regulations for the
internet.

China's vow to keep its strict censorship policies
in place were part of a whitepaper published this week by the Chinese
government called "a crystallization of human wisdom" that
stated in part that the internet was "transforming the pattern
of economic development."

China already boasts the
world's largest internet-using population and the country has plans
to grow that number even further. Over the next five years, China
plans to give 45% of its population totaling 1.3 billion access to
the internet. That would be a gain of 30% from the number of internet
users in the country right now. China specifically promised no
reduction in control over censoring pornographic and violent content
and will continue to block access to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
as well.

The whitepaper states, "Effectively protecting
Internet security is an important part of China's Internet
administration, and an indispensable requirement for protecting state
security and the public interest. Internet administration is a
process of continuous practice, and the Chinese government is
determined to improve its Internet administration work."

Governments
around the world have criticized China's policies on censorship
including authorities from the U.S. and Europe. China states the
criticisms will have no effect on how it controls access to
information online. "Within Chinese territory the Internet is
under the jurisdiction of Chinese sovereignty,” the whitepaper
continued. “The Internet sovereignty of China should be respected
and protected."

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